Epidemiology and management of Fusarium head blight of wheat

Abstract

The investigation entitled Epidemiology and management of Fusarium head blight newlineof wheat was conducted at the Department of Plant Pathology, CSK HPKV, Palampur and newlineResearch farm of Rice and Wheat Research Centre (RWRC), Malan during 2019-21. The newlineaverage disease incidence and severity of FHB at different locations of Himachal Pradesh newlinevaried from 3.25 to 7.74 and 15.08 to 25.29 per cent during 2019-20 and 2020-21, newlinerespectively. Three Fusarium species viz., Fusarium graminearum, F. compactum and F. newlineavenaceum were found associated with the disease but F. graminearum was more prevalent newlinein all the surveyed locations of Himachal Pradesh. The temperature of 25°C and pH of 5.0 newlinewere found to be optimum for mycelial growth, sporulation and perithecia formation of the newlinefungus. The seed and crop residue of maize, wheat and rice served as the primary source of newlineinoculum for the disease development. All the weather parameters viz., temperature, newlinerelative humidity and rainfall contributed for the disease development as all of them newlineindividually and collectively showed positive correlations with disease severity. Out of 200 newlinetested genotypes of wheat, 13 were found free from disease, 26 as resistant and 54 as newlinemoderately resistant to FHB under artificial inoculations. Under in vitro conditions, newlinebeejamrit, extracts of Acorus calamus (aqueous and alcoholic), Trichoderma harzianum newline(TH-5) and carbendazim 50 WP gave highest inhibition of F. graminearum. In a pot newlineexperiment, seed treatment and two foliar sprays of carbendazim 50 WP gave maximum newlinereduction (71.85 and 77.16%) in disease incidence and severity, respectively. However, newlineamong non-chemical management components beejamrit, aqueous extract of Acorus newlinecalamus and Trichoderma harzianum (TH-5) gave maximum reduction in disease newlineincidence and severity. An integrated treatment viz., seed treatment with carbendazim 50 newlineWP (0.2 %) followed by three foliar sprays each of jeevamrit (1 %), aqueous extract of newlineAcorus calamus (1 %) and carbendazim 50 WP (0.1 %) at 10 days interval was found to be newlinemost effective giving 57.26 and 61.56 per cent reduction in disease incidence and severity, newlinerespectively newline